


The Fallen Feather

by Hairi_Esh_Mooncake



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ereriminibang2k19, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Wings, angelAU, lots of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 06:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19435777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hairi_Esh_Mooncake/pseuds/Hairi_Esh_Mooncake
Summary: Levi is an Angel that watches over Eren.It’s regretful, really, that his charge has to die in such an unfortunate accident, but Angels cannot interfere with human life, so he stands still, watching it all unfold. What he doesn’t expect is for a loud voice to scream into his ears that he “Will not be dying here today!” with a force enough to make his divine ears ring, and grab hold of his sleeve. And just like that Levi finds a human staring at him with big eyes of wonder. For Heaven’s sake, he isn’t paid enough for a mess like this.





	The Fallen Feather

**Author's Note:**

> A piece made as part of **Ereri Mini Bang 2019** in colloboration with an artist - **juarhala**. I'm so incredibly proud to have been able to work on this together with her, so after reading the fic, make sure to check her piece out! But beware, cheating (by going to look at the piece before reading) might result in you getting spoiled. 
> 
> For those that came straight out of tumblr and already got spoiled... whoops, I'm sorry! But that scene was too vivid not to ask to be made into a piece and my heart aches for how beautiful it is every time I see it. So no regrets from me!
> 
> Also, many thanks to my beta **ObdurateSinner** for continuous support and for helping me smoothe my misgivings. So happy to have you!

You know that feeling you get while standing over the edge of a straight-down cliff - the urge to _jump -_ the one that works against your better judgement and survival instincts, just constantly nagging you to _go over_? It was a rather common feeling, scientists, _humans,_ came to call it high-place phenomenon, something to take notes of but mostly just be wary of. Because to humans, it could be a dangerous feeling, _deadly_ even. The Angels (and probably many winged mammals in general) also had that feeling engraved deep inside their essence - the unyielding desire to _jump -_ and the best part? They _relished_ in it. 

Simply because they _could_.

He closed his eyes and let his body fall, at a fast and unforgiving speed, the wind ruffling his colored feathers harsher and harsher with the increase of his descend. He let himself a moment longer to fully experience it - the weightlessness of it all - before his eyes snapped open, wings stretched wide on either side, stopping his falling and bringing him to enjoy the moment of _soaring_.

He loved the feeling of peace it gave him. The stillness, the quietness, the absolute freedom he gained from having no one to account for, just himself. 

It was short moments like these that he enjoyed most before a job. It made them all the more precious. 

He landed on the pavement with a soft thud, wings furling over his back as he adjusted his feet on the solid surface, grounding himself. 

A heavy sigh escaped as he thought about today. 

Over the years he'd gotten used to having a charge. Now everything was going to change in a blink of an eye. _Change_. He wasn't waiting for that. 

With a sigh he pulled out a black notebook, opening on the page that held shining writing on top with today's date - _1st of July._ His eyes scrolled down to the black ink underneath, waiting for his signature for the passing events. 

He had one unchecked event ahead of him. 

His fingers trailed a path alongside the words, a small, unnecessary gesture, as if he was preparing himself. He scoffed. Any Angel looking at him now would just laugh at his lingering feelings. He was _meant_ for this. To do this. It was his _job._ The hesitation he was feeling was blasphemous and would cost him greatly, were anyone to catch wind of it. It was enough that the whole Heaven thought of him somehow of a sore limb that got there by mistake. He didn't need to add to those perceptions. Yet he felt…unsettled. His charge's soul was so bright and full of life that to think it'd end in such a way was truly disappointing. 

No, perhaps he just didn't want to go back to hunting lost souls again. Having one charge was a blessing in that you only needed to watch over one person, calmly. 

From start to finish. 

Well, his case was a little bit special but still, it had been years since he was appointed to watch over Eren Jaeger's soul. 

Yet today was the day his duties were going to be cut off. 

As he forcibly shut the notebook, he felt irritation start to seep into him. He was an Angel, for God's sake. He was running for a promotion to be appointed as an Archangel's apprentice. He could handle a measly task like this with ease. It wasn't his first soul. Wouldn't be the last. He simply had to stop his more shameful side getting in the way of things. 

He looked around the busy street - a cafe by the corner with a young couple leaning down to one another with big smiles on their faces, a waiter standing by their table with an exasperated look (probably for being ignored in taking the couple's order), further down the street there was a trail, leading towards a place Levi knew by heart - Shiganshina's High. 

It wouldn't be long now. 

As he silently crossed the road, mindless of the passing cars that just rushed right through his translucent form, he felt the wind picking up, getting stronger and stronger until something ran straight past him in a rush while _yelling,_ in so much pain that it made Levi stop and look straight at the running soul, its essence crying in devastation. 

Levi sent a curse to whoever let their soul escape. 

One of the basic rules of collecting souls - _do not let the soul suffer_. Yet here it was - running around, lost and confused, probably out of their mind because it couldn't comprehend what had happened to them. Death. It wasn't easy to accept. A lot of souls would protest at the moment of seeing an Angel coming to collect their souls - some would cry, some would beg, others would even put the blame on the Angels themselves, but ultimately all would find acceptance in their fate. 

It got a bit difficult with lost souls. If not attended to immediately, they were putting themselves at the risk of getting sent to the Middle Place for further evaluation, in worse cases, if they turned _bad..._ Well, those stories were too morbid for Angels to speak of lightly. 

Levi honestly didn't have time for this. He was required for his own appointment. But he couldn't leave the poor soul completely unattended either, so he took a big black brick that he called a _phone_ for convenience's sake, and dialed the number of his only hope on dealing with messy situations like these. 

After a couple of rings, it picked up. "Hanji, an Angel of our Lord and Master, speaking at your service, what can I do for you, my dearest friend? Is it something juicy? Tell me it is, I've been dying out of boredom these past several years-" 

"Cut the crap," Levi shot back, not having time to deal with his fellow Angel right now. "I need you to find whoever's responsible in letting their soul run around unattended in the Shiganshina's district and come to deal with it, _right now."_

Hanji perked up at that. "A lost soul? Really? Aw, why is it that you get all the juicy stuff, and here I've been-" 

"Hanji!" Levi cut them off. "Will you do it or not? I don't have time for your games."

"Ah," they exhaled after a short pause. "It's today, isn't it?" 

Levi sighed, not having the energy or _time_ to play oblivious to what was being implied. 

"Yes."

"And? Are you okay?" 

"Of course I'm _okay._ What do you think, that I wouldn't be able to handle collecting a soul?!" He could feel himself getting more and more agitated. He knew the best course of action was for him to just get it over with and never look back. Not this half-assed hesitation. It was shameful. 

"I know you're more than capable of taking care of that, Levi," Hanji spoke to him in an annoyingly placating voice. "But he has been under your care for a long time-" 

"-not nearly as long as other Angels have had."

"Yes, that might be true," they agreed. "But for _you_ , it is. He's your first charge after all."

They fell silent after that, mindful of Levi's own thoughts. It was true. Before Eren, he only got daily tasks to look around Earth for lost souls and guide them to the afterlife (that was mostly why he was still so in tune with them) but after getting Eren to look after, an accident he couldn't have predicted, he got used to the boy's overly bright soul. Always shining brightly - be it in pleasant colors of affection or angry shades when someone pissed the boy off. It was a very rare sight to come by. Usually souls were dimmed, only brightening up at the special occasions - first love, loss, achievement. Yet Eren's shone brightly daily. It was a rather addicting sight to watch. One more thing that made Eren's soul so _special,_ a word he loathed intensely, for an Angel wasn't something made to find _anything_ special, except maybe the orders of Heaven. 

He got too close, he knew. And today it was finally going to come to an end. He told Hanji as much. "It doesn't matter what this soul was to me. I'll send it peacefully to the Gate and be back on my daily duties with you. You should be glad I'm gonna keep your sorry ass company."

There was a short chuckle from the other end of the line, a sigh following. "He's going Up, then?" 

"I…yes," Levi said with a frown. Of course he expected Eren's soul to go to Heaven. He'd been watching him for Heaven's sake. There was no way for a soul that bright to end up suffering in the pits of Hell. "Eren's soul is going to Heaven," he added, feeling like he had to advocate for the soul. 

He could feel Hanji wanting to add something else but then his inner watch alerted him, and his eyes involuntarily shifted down the trail that a familiar figure was coming from. With his backpack lazily flung on one shoulder, the zipper mostly undone, the boy with messy brown hair was laughing loudly about something his blonde friend said, all the while walking backwards without a single glance. 

Levi's eyes narrowed at that and his mind supplied the time - _two minutes, fifteen seconds…fourteen…thirteen._

"Hanji, I've got to go," he quickly spoke into the phone, then added, unable to let it slide, "And for God's sake catch the bastard that let the soul suffer. Or better yet, come and deal with it yourself, before it's too late."

Hanji chuckled good-naturedly before agreeing, "I'll see what I can do. And… Good luck, Levi."

He grimaced, feeling the weight of those words, before sighing deeply. "Yeah, bye."

He hung up quickly, his eyes scanning the area. _One minute and forty five seconds_. It was close. Too close. When nothing was happening yet, despite the time being so close to the ending, it usually meant one thing - death upon impact. He guessed it was a blessing of sorts. At least his charge's soul would be spared unnecessary suffering. Yet as his feet guided him towards the pavement where the boy was bouncing on his feet, so close to the threshold between the pedestrian path and the road, Levi wondered why his charge had to be so unnecessary _stupid_.

It was a stupid mistake. A foot landing in the wrong way, a twist of the ankle and suddenly the metal case was falling out of the half-open bag, it landing on the road with a loud clang. It was almost surreal, watching his charge turn over his shoulder and actually bend down to reach for it, fingers extending while he kept his leverage on one and a half feet - reckless and foolish - that was always part of his charge's upbringing but this act truly took the cake. 

Then as his timer counted to _ten seconds… nine_ , there was a flash of light, a warning signal, loud and prolonged, and he could feel his charge's soul _feel it_ the upcoming of death, leaving it bitter and scared. He was prepared for what was coming next. It was a shame that his charge had to die this way but Angels weren't allowed to interfere so Levi stood patiently still, a foot away from the wobbling boy, waiting for the inevitable. 

Suddenly there was yelling, louder than the sirens, louder than a lost soul's cry for help, because it wasn't asking for help, it was making a statement, _demanding,_ that it was not leaving Earth and Levi had a split second to react, to cast his eyes upon the boy he suspected the loud sound was coming from before he felt the universe shifting and an unfamiliar feeling reached him - a pressure on his wrist. 

He looked down in bewilderment at the foreign appendage on his own translucent wrist and lifted his eyes with the growing unease. At first he only saw green, so rich and bright that for a moment it froze his instincts. A blaring siren passed through with a loud screeching of the tires, stopping tens of feet away, without an impact, yet Levi stood unmoving, staring at the shocked eyes of wonder. Then suddenly there were voices, loud and worried, and the pressure around his wrist was being wrenched away, leaving Levi gasping for air. 

It shouldn't be possible. It was incomprehensible. There were no cases in which something like this could have ever happened, yet Levi couldn't deny it if he tried - Eren, his charge, was _alive_. 

***

If he was ever asked how he imagined losing his life, for he thought about it, briefly, but surely (ever since his mother, he was introduced to the harsh reality of the fragility of life), yet in no way had he ever thought himself to die over a _pencil case_. Or was it over a badly closed _schoolbag_? In any case, in all his imaginations he died as a hero, sacrificing himself for a cause, or just dying from a plain old age, surrounded by his loved ones. In no way did he dream of dying over something so utterly _lame._

The problem was, though, that he hadn't...died, that is. He was feeling every last bit alive, and not hurt in the least, despite how sceptical about that his friends seemed to be. 

He _hated_ hospitals. 

"I keep telling you, _Mikasa,_ I feel _fine._ You heard what my father, _the doctor,_ said. I'm perfectly _fine._ " He had been trying to get that point across for over an hour now, yet the girl just wouldn't leave his side. He hoped that Armin would have more sense, but ever since he was harshly elbowed in the rib, he had been singing the same song. 

"Mikasa's right, Eren," he spoke in a gentle voice, making Eren unable to lash out at him unless he wanted to feel like a crappy friend, "that car was speeding an extra 20 miles per hour. If it had hit you, you could've been seriously hurt or…worse," he said the last part almost inaudibly, darting his eyes down as Mikasa's hands clenched over Eren's. 

"But it _didn't,_ " Eren pointed out, trying to quickly steer the conversation away from the morbid thoughts. 

"Yeah, you were lucky for those reflexes."

 _Reflexes, huh?_ Well, Eren was still not sure if he hadn't dreamed the whole thing up but he surely felt like he had grabbed onto… _something._ He wasn't sure if telling his friends that he was possibly saved by a pair of gray orbs with wings attached to the creature’s back was a good idea. He supposed it _was_ possible that on the verge of death he imagined _the other side_ or whatnot. Still, there was no way he actually touched anything, right? 

And the winged creature was too short and grumpy looking for it to be legit. 

He sighed, feeling a headache coming up. "Guys," he addressed them, feeling eyes fall on him. "Can we not do this right now? I feel really tired and would like some alone time."

"Of course, Eren. You should rest up," Armin was the first to stand up and agree (bless him), while Mikasa lingered, unsure, not wanting to leave Eren all alone, so it cost some coaxing from both Armin and Eren to get her going. 

Finally alone in the sterile, white room Eren settled against the pillows, eyes closing. His rest was short lived. Not a moment later he heard rustling, feet padding through the floor, and he felt irritation rising inside him. "I'm _fine,_ Mikasa. Can you just leave me the hell alone, pretty please?!" he said the last part full with sarcasm, feeling his cheeks burn from the sheer effort of keeping his emotions from bursting out. 

"I'm not Mikasa," a low, and very _male_ voice said from somewhere at the end of his bed. Eren's eyes shot open and he yelped from shock. It was...it was the _thing_ from before, the-

"So you _can_ see me," the winged creature said, its brows pinched together as if the sheer knowledge was burdensome. 

"Who-who the hell _are_ you?!" Eren yelled out, a bit hysterical in his shock. 

The winged creature continued to stare at him without answering, then its eyes narrowed down on Eren, as if seeing right _through_ him, before it was moving, steadily closing the distance and Eren was all but helpless to stop its advances. He did try, though. 

"Wait, hold on- you haven't answered- wait, what the hell are you-" He was cut off by a palm landing on his forehead. Suddenly his mind felt like a long, white _silence_ , just flashes of color and indecipherable images. He felt everything and nothing all at once. But just as suddenly as it came, the foreign sensation was wrenched away and he found himself back in his hospital room, panting for breath. 

He almost missed the way the winged creature sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly as it finally answered Eren's belated question, "I'm an Angel that was sent to collect your soul." Well, Eren guessed that explained the wings and the strange glow that seemed to shine from the creature's palms and eyes just seconds prior.

"At least I was supposed to until..." He trailed off, looking troubled for some reason, and his wings were twitching in a weird, unnatural way.

At this point Eren decided the winged creature, the _Angel_ , must be a male. At least he imitated one; dark hair styled in an undercut, a black suit jacket that he had draped over his shoulders instead of wearing it like an actual human being (was that some sort of trend among Angels?), a light dress shirt and black shoes, and...was that a _cravat_ around his neck?

It was all very peculiar.

"Wait…" he finally found his voice to ask. "You said you were supposed to _collect my soul._ As in…"

"Yes. Your life was supposed to end at two thirty-four pm today, on a Monday. Instead here you are, a pain in my ass," the Angel huffed, suddenly deciding to come to sit on the edge of the table by the window. He had a strange black notebook out (ha, imagine it being the Death Note… Eren _hoped_ not, though, with it being in the possession of an Angel…), then he began furiously scribbling something - erasing a whole page with lines through it and writing something seconds later. 

The sudden shift in persona was strange, but Eren guessed he was in a completely new territory and it was hard to know what was normal and not. For starters, him talking to a freaking _Angel_ wasn't one of them. 

"Okay," Eren said with a nod, a nervous laugh escaping him. "Wow. So, I was supposed to... _die_. Okay, so, um, what is going to happen to me now?" 

"Nothing of significance," the Angel replied a lot quicker than Eren expected him to. "A lot of a headache and mindless paperwork for me."

"Do Angels have paperwork also? What for?"

"Yes," the Angel spoke with a hint of contempt. _What was his problem_? Eren frowned at the fastly scribbling Angel. "-writing a report on why are you not freaking dead."

"You’re very rude, you know," Eren said without thought, missing how the Angel's fingers stopped moving in turn to gape at the insolent human. Eren carried on, unknowingly. "You couldn’t possibly work at counselling. You’d make the older ladies cry."

He meant it as a joke, but after seeing the widened eyes, he wondered if it would fly over the Angel's head. 

"I would make _macho men_ cry," he said, and Eren found himself grinning, watching the Angel avert his eyes from the observant greens. "Not that it matters since I’m never going to be interacting with humans."

"Except me," Eren replied smugly, quickly becoming immune to the death glares of contempt being thrown his way.

"Apparently."

He already escaped death once. It didn't feel like he had much to fear for anymore. And hey, becoming friends with an Angel sounded kinda cool. 

***

It wasn't as smooth sailing as Eren originally thought it'd be. The first problem arose as soon as they went home, leaving Eren unable to hold eye contact with his cat anymore. 

Yes, his precious ginger Tama, which apparently was _not_. 

"Just do your homework while I play with Isabel here," he, _Levi_ , had said. Eren was quick to correct him that the cat's name was _Tama,_ he named it after all. As he opened his textbook he thought it'd be the end of it, only it wasn't. Levi, the Angel, kept insisting on the cat being a soul of his long lost friend and while at first Eren brushed him off, suddenly it became not funny anymore. 

"But, but I've bathed with it near and-and changed and…"

"Yes, she wasn't very impressed."

At that point Eren wished the Angel had actually went through with collecting his soul. It sounded way better than the humiliation he felt. 

"It's the soul of Isabel Magnolia." The words kept haunting his ears. A name, a _girl's_ name, someone that was with him almost 24/7, eating with him, sleeping with him, _watching_ him… Now Eren couldn't close his eyes without seeing those sharp eyes judging him silently as he went about life like an idiot.

He groaned in helplessness, head buried in his elbow on the desk. The teacher had been talking about the vascular system or something of the sort, and Eren just hoped to be spared from questions. He supposed he could still use his _just out of the hospital_ card, but for how long? His situation seemed to get crazier by the second. He had a book on _Bird behavior_ for Heaven's sake. He hoped it'd help him in understanding better all the twitching the Angel's wings seemed to do. 

And what a magnificent pair of wings they were. Eren always thought Angel wings were supposed to be pristine white. Not Levi's, though. They were multi-colored - starting with a deep shade of blue at the base, it slowly morphing into lighter shades until eventually ending with pure white feathers. Eren would be the last to admit it, but his fingers itched to touch those twitching feathers. He'd never seen anything like it. They just looked so… _soft,_ and _unearthly_ that every time Levi brushed past him, just an inch away from touching him with his featherly back, Eren felt disappointment fill his core. 

Admittedly, that was the only good feature about Levi. Other than having a beautiful set of wings, the Angel was a dick. Eren felt angry just remembering all the times he tried asking the Angel for help only to be shot down. 

He was being extra polite, too. 

"Can you tell me the reason why the Cold War started," he had once asked with a heavy sigh, feeling a headache coming up from all the research. 

"Why?" 

"I have been searching the internet for over an hour now and can't find the answer," he admitted, then sheepishly asked, "And I figured you as a cosmic being would probably know."

There, a boost for the Heavenly ego, it should work.

"I do," Levi agreed, and Eren already felt his fingers twitching. "Doesn't mean I’m going to tell you, though."

"Wh-what the hell, man?" Eren sputtered in shock. 

"If you’re unable to find the answer then perhaps you’re not _meant_ to find one," Levi pointed out as if scolding a grade schooler. "I’m not interfering with that."

His logic was messed up. Eren had _an Angel_ at his disposal, there was no way it didn't add some benefits. 

"Seriously? If you’re not going to help me, what good are you to me?" 

"I’m not supposed to be anything. Just carry on as always," he replied dismissively, going back to chewing on a piece of chips, which Eren had specially opened up for the Angel. 

It was unfair. Far from getting benefits, on most days Eren felt like he was being taken advantage of instead. He swiftly turned back to his research, all the while mumbling about _frustrating, stuck-up Angels._

So lost in thought it took Eren a while to put two and two together at what he was seeing just outside the classroom window. When he did, he jumped out of the seat, screaming profanities. 

There, perched just outside the window was a mess of featherly limbs, and an unpleasantly frowning face. He was pointing with his finger upwards, all the while ignoring Eren's hanging open mouth or the fact that _the whole classroom_ was looking at him with wariness right now.

Apparently he didn't care as he just unfurled his wings and took off, leaving a few feathers behind to float around in the air.

He swore, if it wasn't such a sin to wish Angels dead, he'd kill him himself. 

A lot of embarrassment and excuses later, Eren finally stumbled his way to the rooftop - an act he swore he would not be repeating again for the sake of sparing a poor man from working overtime to fix the messes the kids created. He felt guilty as he broke the lock, yet again, and stepped into the forbidden area. 

Only to come up empty. He blinked a few times, feeling frustration rise inside him. If the freaking Angel made him go through all that trouble for the sake of nothing-

"You're late," a voice somewhere from above ( _God's voice?)_ startled him. Eren cursed at his own silliness as he watched the Angel gracefully land on the floor, a few feet away from Eren. As his wings settled, a few mismatched feathers fell below his feet. Eren wondered if he could pick one up undetected.

He tried it, at home, because the Angel was _shedding everywhere_ \- day and night - but they seemed to disappear in a short amount of time and on the rare occasions Eren managed to snatch one for inspection, well… It felt like _nothing_ , disappointedly.

So, Eren wondered if it was time-restricted. Perhaps if he was quick enough-

"Oi, open this up for me," the low voice said before a bag of chips were thrust into his line of vision. Eren lifted his eyes to look incredulously at the Angel. 

"Did you seriously come to harass me all this way over a packet of chips?!" 

“Yes, and so?” The Angel had the gall to look exasperated. "I cannot access a sealed pack. You _know_ that," he added, as if that were Eren's fault. 

He just couldn't deal with him right now. Rubbing his temple in frustration, he yelled out to Levi that he’s “Fucking unbelievable”, then turned and headed back where he came from. 

Eren was prepared to slam the doors in the Angel's face but then realized how counterproductive it'd be to have the Angel stalk him throughout the day, so he let him pass inside the stair passage, before doing his best to fix the damage on the lock.

With that done, he slowly descended the stairs all the while feeling the presence just behind him. Levi following after him, well, more like _floating_ mid-air. It was surreal how it no longer surprised Eren. 

Racking his brain for something to break the ice with, he caught a glimpse of the bag of chips, still in the hands of the Angel, and frowned. “How does that even work, you and food? Do people see a packet of “chips” floating around behind me now or what?” 

Levi hummed in thought. “No. I can hide it under my perceptive cloak." After seeing Eren still frowning, he added, "Well, some more intune humans could probably see through it, though.” 

At the bottom of the stairs they stopped, Eren quickly turning to Levi. “If I open this pack for you, will you stop following me around and finally go home?” 

Levi regarded him silently, then nodded. “Yes.” 

Eren grit his teeth, unsure and confused as to what got him so riled up, again. Perhaps all he was good for, in the Angel's eyes, was opening packs of chips. That was ridiculous. Not like one could be jealous of a pack of chips. Shaking his head, he harshly took the packet from Levi’s hand, ripped it apart and pushed it to Levi’s chest. He then closed his eyes, taking a few calming breaths as his hand landed on the handle.

Just before it opened, he felt something, a presence on his shoulder, some sort of _pressure_ , which left him snapping in frustration. 

“Just fucking go away already.” 

Several gasps followed his statement, and as he went to open his eyes, behind the doors stood Mikasa and Armin, both equally as shocked to see Eren. 

“Eren?” Armin asked, timid and unsure, and Eren swore. 

“Sorry guys, wasn’t meant for you.”

Mikasa continued to stare at him suspiciously. “Who were you talking to?” 

Eren felt too emotionally drained for questions, so he just exhaled and pushed past her. “Nobody. Just frustrated about the upcoming exams and other shit.”

He hoped that would be enough, but Mikasa didn't seem to buy it. “Eren, if someone is giving you trouble-”

“Nobody is giving me trouble, Mikasa. Just drop it, okay?” 

It was all the Angel's fault. Eren truly had to wonder what deity he had pissed off to get paired with a creature like _him._

***

As soon as he opened the doors of his room - the Angel was in his line of sight. Perched on the top of a cabinet, Levi seemed to be engrossed in one of Kafka's books that he had laying around, in the bottom drawer, he might add. Eren frowned at that. Before he could ask, though, his eyes involuntary fell towards the curled wing - half of it pressed close to Levi's side, another half standing erect with the tips of the feathers at the end twitching slightly. 

The Angel was so full of shit. Most of the time his wings gave it all away. No matter how hard he tried to pretend he didn't care for Eren's presence, each time he went close to the Angel, the feathers would either go suddenly still, as if preparing for danger, or be twitching, like now - something Eren had dubbed as a silent _greeting_ towards Eren. 

Granted, Eren had a better relationship with the Angel's wings than Levi himself. 

"I'm back," he muttered shortly and plopped on the top of the bed without expecting and _not getting_ any comeback from the Angel. The feathers seemed to relax, though. 

This was ridiculous. 

"You took the book out," he blurted out, because Eren just _had_ to keep trying to have a conversation with someone who clearly showed zero interest in him (except for the body - feather - language) apparently. 

Levi hummed, the first sound Eren heard addressed to him. He should probably take it as a win. How pathetic. 

"You said you can't access anything _sealed_ ," he pressed on, having a faint thought, a _surreal_ one of the Angel actually feeling bored, or God forbid, _lonely_ , and seeking Eren out with a pack of chips as an excuse. 

"I can't", he agreed, crushing that pitiful hope in Eren just as quickly as it bloomed. "There was a small hole on the bottom of it. I used that to get through."

"Huh," was all Eren managed to let out because _honestly_ , what exactly was he expecting? The first few days, while he was still too high on the sensation of _I survived the impossible_ he actually thought the Angel would be fun to have around. He had wit, something Eren _matched_ , they almost seemed like a match made in Heaven, albeit…in a platonic, human-angel sort of buddy way. But then just as suddenly as the Angel realized he'd be staying down here with Eren for good, he closed off. 

Suddenly the witty Angel was replaced by a stuck-up, cold, featherly being that made a point of having no intention of _interfering_ in Eren's life, ever. 

There were a lot of things Eren expected, _wished_ for in his life. Going back in time to save his mom, was one example of that. And after getting to know Levi, hell, getting to know that Heaven _and_ Hell were real, well… he hoped for _something._ Something that was not _this._

Instead he got a brash, rude Angel, that seemed to be overly obsessed with chips, of all things. He also seemed to be especially fond of German Sausage flavour, making Eren go the extra mile to purchase them every other day. Eren didn't know if the Angel was trying to be funny or he if was just that _weird._

Not that Eren ever planned on telling him that in the face, though, as he watched the Angel still and throw an unimpressed look in his direction he was quick to realize the words actually did escape his mouth. Well, _shit._

“It’s a matter of perception," Levi said, in a voice a lot calmer than Eren expected. Though as his eyes lost that bit of light in them, seemingly going far away into a memory, it almost made it _worse._ "You see something as abnormal in your eyes based on your own ignorance.” He didn't sound overly bitter. And that perhaps was the problem. If anything, he sounded _sad_. Now Eren felt like a jerk. 

“Is that how other Angels see you then? An abnormality?” he asked, carefully, after a short moment of stillness. 

Levi was silent for a moment, contemplative, then he shut the book, pushing it aside. 

Eren was sitting very still as he waited for the Angel to start speaking. 

"I’m not a full fledged Angel because I have retained my human memories. My dual-colored wings are proof of that." 

Eren's eyes widened half their usual width as the Angel said the last thing he could have expected from him. 

"Really? You remember your life?" 

"Not...all of it," Levi said, voice going quieter, less harsh and with a lot more uncertainty. The wings were going absolutely crazy - they were ruffled and trembling as if expecting a brutal attack to come at them any moment. Eren frowned, but remained silent as he let Levi carry on, "Bits and pieces, but enough to feel a certain... _attachment_ -" he spat the word with contempt, as if feeling close to humanity was a sin. Perhaps it _was_. Eren felt bile rise in his throat just from the thought of the unfairness of it. "-to the quirks of humanity. I’m called an Angel with an attitude because of it."

"That’s crappy of them to do," he found himself saying, bold and harsh, expressing fully his disagreement with the treatment Levi must have had received. "Angels are supposed to be attuned with humans, aren’t they? Seeing as you watch over us." 

"We watch over you and that's all," Levi spoke calmly, emotionless, as if reciting from a well-memorized script. "We’re not meant to...interfere." 

Ah, there it was again, that word - _interfere._ Eren was quick to come to loathe it. 

There was something else that bothered Eren, though. The _way_ he had said it… "Will you... get in trouble because of me?"

He watched Eren in silence. For a long, outstretched moment, only the two of them seemed to exist. It felt a lot like their first meeting, the first contact of their eyes, the link that somehow connected their very essences. Eren felt it now. The burning inside, the fire of a will that he usually considered solely a part of his inner being, now he felt the need to share it, to show to Levi that he was not like any of those jerks and was actually looking at Levi - just the way he appeared before him. 

"You are different," Levi said silently, voice catching at the end, Eren's eyes quickly searching his to catch it, that fleeting moment of feelings, before they too, were extinguished beneath the layer that was an Angel. 

Levi averted his eyes, sighing. "Your situation is something unexpected. You wished so badly to keep on living that for a moment your soul connected to my grace in a way that made it possible for you to manifest me into your realm. Technically, I’m not responsible for your actions." He paused, seeing so that Eren understood. He did. "So no, I won’t get in trouble, just will have to tolerate your company on a more personal level." 

There was no denying the underlying teasing or the hint of a smirk that passed the Angel's lips and Eren was too starved for any sort of exchange to be stupid enough to let it pass by. 

"Hey, I’m not that annoying," he shot back indignantly. 

"Ignorant." 

Eren sighed, though, not unable to hide a small smile playing on his lips. "You’re one rude Angel, you know that?" 

"I have been called worse."

Eren fell silent, as Levi himself realized what he had said; face twisting into a frown. He was probably on the verge of shutting down again, before Eren steered the conversation elsewhere. 

"Seriously, though. Are you actually going to stay with me until I get all wrinkly and old?" 

"If it comes to that, yes." 

"What the hell does _that_ mean?" 

"If you fall out of your bed and get a fatal concussion next week, my duties will be cut short." 

"Hilarious. My Angel is secretly a demon in disguise. The whole Heaven has been deceived." 

His heart stopped as his mind caught up with what he had said. Eyes shifting towards Levi in a wild search, Eren was forming several types of apologies in his head for having calling Levi as _his_ ; his Angel, his _anything,_ but that all seemed to be only Eren's own concern. Levi…appeared not in the least perturbed by Eren's words. A quick glance to the wings only cemented that fact. Huh. Perhaps, Eren was way overly sensitive. After all Levi _was_ an Angel that was appointed to watch over him. Staking claim on him with human words probably went in one divine ear, and went out the other. 

Damn Angels and their lack of understanding of human customs. 

Somehow suddenly miserable, Eren sighed, his words giving a nostalgic feel to it. “I’m kind of relieved, though.” 

“Relieved?” Levi asked, a raised eyebrow betraying his surprise.

“Yes, because that means I'll always have someone on my side.”

Levi frowned, but before he could protest, assuming that was his intention, Eren hurriedly got up and announced that he was going to go prepare for bed. 

Eren’s cheeks were burning the whole way over as he went. 

***

It was by pure, innocent accident that Eren managed to walk in on Levi. A phrase he wasn't using lightly, considering the intimacy of the sight Eren stumbled upon. 

It was past nightfall when Eren felt way too hot to sleep and decided to head for the rooftop. The first thing he saw was the utterly ethereal shine of the moonlight - the silver light catching on the bits of blue was a sight, mesmerizing enough, but then he saw the light outstretching, reaching as far as the place where Eren stood and suddenly he was struck with the sight of Levi's wings full on display. 

They were _sparkling_. Each feather seemed to be vibrating from the energy of the moonlight. 

And what was worse - Levi, surrounded by fallen feathers, working his fingers around each of them, straightening them out. 

Eren had never seen the whole expanse that was Levi's wings, but looking at it now up close, they seemed _massive_. They suited Levi's pale skin and darker locks perfectly. He wanted to _touch_ them, badly. 

Eren didn't even realize when he suddenly took a step forward, his sneakers catching onto the surface and then suddenly those same massive wings were flapping in quick motion, standing up together with Levi's lithe form glaring at him fully. 

Eren never felt more scared _or_ turned on. Wait, no, that wasn't right. 

Before his awkward thoughts could go any further, he hurriedly rushed out with a quick apology leaving his lips. 

***

Levi wasn't speaking to him. Ever since he came back from the _rooftop incident_ he hadn't said anything. Eren alone was fidgeting on the bed, trying to build up the courage to fucking _apologize_ for intruding.

After he finally did, words leaving him feeling sick in the stomach, Levi only sighed and told him the most peculiar thing of all. 

"You don't have to worry. I won't be bringing more feathers back to bed," he said, making Eren lost and confused. Sure, he might have briefly complained about them before, but that was _at the beginning_ , nowadays Eren was likely to seek out the fluttery things himself. 

Levi smacking him with his wings in the middle of the night still pissed him off, though. More so because of the fact that he was not awake enough to register the full texture of them, just the annoying part - something hitting him, harshly. 

But apparently Eren left some kind of wariness in the Angel as he seemed to truly believe Eren had a problem with his wings. 

After today Eren wasn't sure he could ever _not_ look at them with anything short for awe. 

“Y-your wings, they’re, um… I think they’re beautiful,” he quietly admitted, for some reason feeling bashful. More so when he felt Levi’s eyes narrow at him. 

“Huh?” 

Eren stumbled over his next words, feeling too put on the spot as he tried to convey to the Angel how he would still find his wings beautiful even if they were pure white, blue or grey, but also that as they were now they looked more magnificent, more alive.

“Besides, you’re not the only cool one with heterochromia,” the brunet said with a smirk and then bent down, his fingers going for his face, picking against something only to reveal a pair of mismatched eyes as he straightened up. Levi seemed to be pleased by Eren’s praise but otherwise barely reacted. 

“Wait… you’re not surprised," Eren said with a frown. 

“Why should I be?”

“No, I mean, because I only change the lens in the bathroom, so…”

“Your point?”

“A-re you saying you’ve been… seen me…” Eren sputtered, praying it not to be _true._

“I'm an Angel, Eren. I oversee everything.”

Damn it. 

“I can’t fucking believe you! Why would you even stalk me to the bathroom?! What could possibly happen to me there?”

“You’d be surprised by how many incidents occur precisely in the confines of the shitroom-”

“ _Bathroom_. It’s called a fucking bathroom," Eren yelled out in hysterics.

“Yes, a fuckroom also," the Angel said in a voice as calm as ever, forcing Eren to raise his hands in helpless defeat.

“Unbelievable.” 

***

It was another day at school, with the teacher going on and on about the things they all seemed to already know by heart. Or maybe it was just Eren. Armin made sure to keep Eren up to date with notes and on other, _more extreme_ , occasions he'd seek Eren out to retell the day's material. 

He appreciated Armin, no mistake there, but sometimes Eren just felt the lack of willpower to try _so freaking hard_. For what exactly? It wasn't exactly life and death, and his grades were satisfactory enough. 

Up until Levi _flew_ into his life, literally, Eren enjoyed most of free time spending it with friends. Nowadays, though… his mind was full of silky black hair, blue and white feathers and a voice, deep as sin. 

Eren probably shouldn't be lusting over an angel, but hey, he was a teenager. And not very religious. Well, he _did_ believe in Angels now at least. 

Stifling a yawn, Eren turned to the window only to choke on his own spit at the ridiculous sight - Levi, perched upside down with both wings enclosing him into a cocoon. Was he trying to imitate a bat? Eren grinned as Levi swayed from side to side then promptly unfurled his wings and flipped upside down, squatting down. 

Eren just began mouthing at him _what the hell was he doing_ when suddenly Levi's whole posture went rigid, head tilting backwards and with one prolonged look at Eren, he was gone. 

*** 

As his wings brought him to a vast room, Levi immediately felt his ethereal skin prickle. The air was simply suffocating, he could almost _taste_ the superiority complex radiating from half the population of divine beings surrounding him. To make matters worse, not a minute after his arrival he already had an Angel from a parallel garrison, sneering in his face with words full of mockery. 

Sometimes Levi really hated his kind. 

“I don't see what my height has to do with any of you, you satan spawns,” Levi growled out lowly at one of the Angels crowding him with wings outstretched wide to appear even more intimidating. 

Levi wasn't. But it _did_ piss him off. 

“Ah, that's not very nice, Levi," the ginger haired one tutted him with a finger in his face. Levi slapped the offending limb away.

“I dropped nice the moment you opened your mouth.”

That seemed to be just what they were waiting for. A reason to _fight._ Damn it. "Yes, you always lacked that _pureness_ in you," the Angel said while giving Levi's wings a disgusted once-over. "I guess you're finally where you ought to be. With your human flock."

Levi opened his mouth to retort, but suddenly another, _familiar_ , voice joined the conversation. 

“I heard you made your latest soul scream in agony after you missed the soul-point to send it to Heaven,” Hanji said after appearing from the corner. Levi could see the other angel bristle at the jab, his wings outstretching in a defensive stance, but Hanji was an impressive force all on their own and it didn't take long before the duo abruptly turned, stalking off. 

Levi sighed, feeling suddenly exhausted at the never-ending hostility between him and the upper class Angels. 

"Don't mind them too much," Hanji said while patting him on the shoulder. 

"I don't," Levi replied curtly, grateful for Hanji not bringing it up again despite knowing otherwise. It was one of the reasons he still kept the glasses-wearing Angel around. "For divine beings vowed to protect human kind they sure talk a lot of shit about them.”

“Power got into their heads. Apparently there had been talks about making Floch archangel Gabriel's apprentice.”

Levi's eyebrows rose up at that bit of information. 

“Having that knucklehead in command? God help us all.”

“He won’t.”

“He won’t,” Levi agreed. 

They parted with Levi heading straight for what he came for in the first place - _the Oracle_. 

Ever since Eren's fate became undecided, _unclear_ , Levi meant to come back to check it with the Oracle. He probably should have come sooner, much sooner, but something always held him back. He felt like he couldn't afford to take his eyes off of Eren for a second. But today he felt a _calling_ and there was no avoiding it anymore.

Eren's fate had been rearranged and as his Guardian Angel Levi was summoned at the Oracle to catalogue the change. It was a bit unnerving. He knew human lifespans were fleeting but it didn't hit him as hard until he was face to face with the numbers. Months, years, sometimes decades. He had souls to collect with all kinds of fates, but none seemed to hold so much weight as this one. 

He wondered why. 

As he finally pushed through to the room, he was met with the pure essence that was _oracle_. More light than anything solid it was a place for enlightenment. Levi only had to step into the swirling light, seeking out an answer, and it'd be answered. He did, and then his long since forgotten heart skipped a beat. 

***

Eren hadn't seen Levi for the rest of the day. 

Not like Eren was particularly missing the Angel but it had become… _fun_ to have him around. And he was yet to solve the mystery that was Levi's wings; did they feel soft? Were they warm or cold? If Eren were to touch them would they _twitch_? 

Eren felt giddy just at the thought of it and almost missed the towering figure in front of him. 

"Whoops, sorry." He was prepared to go when he got a glimpse of a familiar face accompanying the tall guy he almost ran over. 

"Eren, you got a minute?" The blond guy asked casually. "Bertholdt and I want to talk to you about something." 

***

The day ended fast, with nothing particularly exciting happening. He parted with the duo - Reiner and Bertholdt - at the gates, where Eren's eyes flickered towards a dark figure leaning over the railing with hands crossed over his chest. 

His mouth formed _Levi's_ name, before he was nudged onto his shoulder. "I'll see you then, Eren?" 

"Oh, yeah, sure," Eren answered as he watched the broad back of his old classmate disappear down the road. 

To say he was surprised to see Levi waiting for him was an understatement. "Are you waiting for me?" Eren blurted out, because his brain couldn't function properly when he was nervous. And finding _Levi_ , an Angel he had a crush on, waiting for him to be done with school was a situation enough not only to disturb his brain functions but possibly even melt it completely. 

Levi regarded him with a look that could only be interpreted as Eren being _a mistake of God_. "Whose else’s ass am I supposed to look after daily?" 

Okay, ass jokes. Great. Eren laughed nervously as he indicated for Levi to follow him down the path. 

"I'm here because you seemed likely to get lost if left on your own," he then added, making Eren silently chuckle at the Angel's poor cover up. He should just tell him if he was lonely. 

"Oh-kay," Eren said and stopped by the road. "Look, it's very nice of you to come pick me up and all but I've got plans for the evening, so maybe you could just wait for me back at home?" 

"What _plans_?" the Angel asked in a low voice, his eyes suddenly narrowing. That caught Eren off guard. 

"Um, I'm meeting some friends _?_ What's gotten into you, you're acting weird."

"Nothing, just… I thought perhaps we could go to the ocean today."

Okay. That was very unexpected and the thought of _Levi_ himself inviting Eren anywhere to spend some time together was making his stomach do backflips, but he was a man of his word. He rubbed the back of his head not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Ah, how about we go another day. Perhaps tomorrow?" 

“You can go meet your _friends_ tomorrow. Let’s go to the ocean today."

Wow, that was uncharacteristically selfish of him. It made Eren frown. “They asked for my help, Levi. I’m not going to just up and leave them like that.”

“You won’t. Just go tomorrow," Levi insisted and something in his eyes told Eren he wasn't being told the whole truth. Again. More secrets. It was seriously starting to piss him off. 

“Why? Why is tomorrow going to be any different?” he asked, hands falling to his sides in desperation to make Levi share, for _once_ , just to cut the crap and _tell_ him things. 

Of course, it was too much to ask. 

“It just will," the Angel said in his usual _I know better_ voice. "And stop asking, you know I won’t be able to answer.”

Eren just couldn't handle it anymore. No, this had to end. Now _._

“You know what? I’m so sick of you and your “cannot interfere” bullshit-”

“It’s not bullshit, it’s Heaven’s rule.”

“Yeah well you can shove it up your ass because I’ve _had it._ " Eren could feel himself shaking from the sheer emotion as he stared at the Angel, helplessly, _uselessly_ , trying to find in his eyes something that was never even _there._

He never felt so pathetic in his life. 

He swallowed, eyes closing."If you got anything to say to me, anything _concrete_ I should know, you can either tell me or you may stop _interfering_ with my plans for today starting right about fucking now.” 

He gave him a moment to backtrack and catch Eren before the bridge before them grew too big, but Levi only shook his head at Eren, like it was hopeless to be talking to him and turned his back to him. He also promised not to _interfere_ before taking off. 

“Levi-” 

All Eren could see were wings and feathers, falling down from the sky as the Angel flew farther and farther away from him. 

***

"What do you think, Eren? Not a bad deal, right?" 

Eren was sure his hearing must have gone bad or his common sense somehow fully disappeared because the sheer nonsense that was coming out of the pair's, well, mostly _Reiner's_ , mouth was simply incomprehensible. He met up with Reiner and Bertholdt on the construction site, a distance away from his usual visiting areas, but Reiner had been like a big brother to him since middle school. He didn't have the heart to refuse the guy when he was looking so absolutely _desperate_ to have Eren join him. To _show_ him something. Well, if he had any inkling it'd be _this,_ he would've never set foot on the site. Too late now, though. He was already standing on the rooftop with two guys showing him the content of Reiner's bag like some kind of _trophy_ Eren was supposed to appreciate. 

As the guy pressed up towards Eren's side, all charm and mischief, asking him if he _got it_ , with a wink, Eren was quick to recoil with a shake of his head. 

"No, I _don't,_ " he hissed, seemingly taking the duo by surprise with his tone. "Are you actually serious right now? You're asking me to be a _drug dealer_ for you while stealing from my father's hospital!" Eren pushed a hand through his hair, feeling like he was going into hysterics. "What even- what gave you the idea that I'd actually be okay with this, huh?!" 

"Eren-" Reiner began, his face no longer holding a smile, instead it was set; serious and determined. Eren then realized where he was and with _who_ , in an abandoned part of the city. 

He needed to get out of here. Quickly. 

"No, no. I'm out. You can do…whatever, I don't care, but I'm- no, I'm _going,_ " he said with resolution, backing away only to be stopped by a firm hand tugging him and pleading, convincing words falling out of what he once considered a friend's mouth. 

"Reiner, let me _go_ , okay? I won't… I'm not gonna snitch, okay? I just don't want any part of this."

Suddenly there was silence. Eerie one, as two pairs of eyes were looking at him like he was a _problem._ Eren gulped, backing away, and hyper aware of Bertholdt slowly advancing, still silent as always, but something in his eyes told Eren he wasn't just silent with no bite. 

His feet led him further back, step by step, when he felt the back of his shoes come up empty - the edge - he was standing over a fucking edge. His stomach did a somersault. Just as he tried to pull himself away from it, he saw Reiner's hand outstretching, Bertholdt's emotionless face, staring at him, and he couldn't stop himself from recoiling. A moment that made him lose balance and suddenly he was wobbling, eyes wide and scared, hands flailing, grasping for something, _anything,_ only nobody was helping him, nobody was pulling him up and just as quickly his feet slid past the edge, going down and down.

He grabbed hold of the edge at the very last moment, holding on for dear life with his feet dangling in the air. 

He opened his mouth to ask for help, because he _couldn't hold on for much longer_ , but even as his own voice cracked, scared and desperate, the two pairs of eyes he met were unmoving. They looked…shocked, a bit disturbed even, but apart from that they did nothing to assist Eren. 

"Reiner… Bertholdt… Guys, come on, _please._ " 

He saw one of the two, Bertholdt, take a step towards him before a hand shot out to block his path. Eren looked up at Reiner with wide eyes, unwilling to hear what was said next. "No." 

"Reiner?" the taller boy asked, looking from Eren to Reiner in something akin to fear. But Reiner just shook his head at him. 

"Don't," he said tightly. "It's not our fault. He… _fell._ " 

And then… they just left _._

Eren wanted to yell damn murderers at their retreating backs but he knew if he got too worked up he'd lose the last bit of leverage on him and he literally had _no one_ to count on but himself. 

Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. 

He kept repeating like a mantra, willing his legs to stop shaking because he _needed_ them, he needed them to push his body up and to _save_ himself. 

Why was this happening to him? Why? Just _why_?

Swallowing his tears, he willed his body to still, fingers almost numb by now from the weight of holding up his body. He then tried putting on more weight on his hands; grasping, pushing himself up, only to keep sliding down. He put it all in one single chance - he swung his leg over the edge, feeling the heated surface through the material of his pants and almost laughed out loud. It worked, he was with a leg over the edge, for a _whole moment_ he thought he had saved himself, but then his body just collapsed on him, and he lost all semblance of support. 

At first a breath left him. Almost like a question on the tip of his lips, unsure what was happening to him, before the gravity underneath him suddenly changed and he felt himself falling, fast, and straight for the ground ten stores down. 

_He was going to die_ , he realized. Why, why hadn’t he listened to Levi? Why did he go anyway? Why was he going to die so pathetically, all alone, when he didn’t even start living yet? 

He was going down fast. The pressure against his back. The wind, fluttering his locks and making his eyes water. Or maybe it was because of fear. How pathetic. If he was afraid to die he shouldn’t have behaved so stupidly in the first place. When he couldn’t take the stinging in his eyes anymore, he closed them, throat feeling tight with a wildly beating heart and at the moment of desperation he found himself praying. 

_Please save me._

Suddenly he felt, no, first he _heard_ a loud noise, like a tearing of something, _into_ something close by before he felt arms wrapping around him, strong and oddly familiar. He opened his bleary eyes only to stifle a gasp. Levi. Levi was holding him. Levi came to save him. He sobbed from happiness clutching him tighter as the Angel instructed him in a tight voice to _hold on._ For a whole moment, he felt safe and protected, a heavy weight falling from his shoulders. 

When the first prickle reached his fingers, he barely felt it, not wanting to care. But when the sensation intensified, he could no longer ignore it. He felt heat against his fingertips, actually burning him, and instinctively he flinched, shifting to grab onto Levi’s back further away, away from the danger that was happening against Levi’s back. And then he saw… he saw Levi’s back- It was in flames, Levi’s back, no, his wings-

“Hold on,” Levi repeated one last time, carefully cradling Eren’s head between his fingers, as they plunged to the ground fast. The faster they went the harder it was to keep his eyes open, to see the bright flames increasing, until his vision was completely filled with flashes of flames and smoke. 

As soon as Levi’s feet reached the ground, he collapsed onto Eren, both of them stumbling until they were on their knees, gasping for air that was stifling with the smell of burnt charcoal. He could hear the raven groan, feel him shake against his frame and Eren’s eyes flickered to the Angel’s back just in time to see the remains of what was once beautiful set of wings become nothing. The cerulean blue at the base, the pearly white - everything became sickly, blackened parts, that, too, disappeared within seconds before his very eyes. 

Eren couldn’t stop the tears then, they just started falling, never seeing an end. “I-oh my G-” he choked, shaking from his own sobs while holding onto Levi’s battered form. “You-your… Levi, your _wings.”_

The other man exhaled a breath, his head still resting against Eren’s chest from what seemed sheer exhaustion and pain. Pain Eren had caused. “I warned you not to go, you stupid brat.” 

If Eren could go back in time and beat the shit out of himself, he would. If Eren could do anything to make this beautiful creature whole again and not something broken because of Eren, he would. But there was nothing he could do. So he cried. He cried for Levi, he cried for the both of them, almost missing Levi calling him until those grey orbs looked at him like he was actually _worth_ the sacrifice. 

“I have nothing left now.” Levi spoke softly while cupping the back of Eren’s head, forcing Eren to look straight at the turbulent grey orbs, shining with whatever determination was beneath them. “So I will give my life to you.” 

He wasn’t worth it. How could he ever be? But he couldn’t say it then. So he didn’t. He just gathered the raven against his chest and promised that he would take care of him from now on. For as long as he lived. 

***

They spent most of the weekend in bed. Mostly staring at the ceiling or each other without saying much of a word. Eren tried, but each time he opened his mouth Levi seemed to curl into himself; back stiff and shoulders hunched inwards. He later realized it was the raven’s way of imitating the body language of his wings. That quickly shut Eren up. 

The nights were the hardest to bear. He missed the accustomed light that Levi’s wings emitted in the moonlight, he missed the feel of those fluffy feathers tickling his nose to the point that would lead Eren to ask Levi to get out of the bed, annoyed by it all. He would take those moments back any day. The worst was seeing Levi staring lifelessly in the dark, watching him buzz with the energy of wanting to soar in the night's sky and being unable to. 

With a tight lump in his throat he pretended to sleep, though he wondered if he managed to fool Levi with that. 

When Monday came Eren was promptly kicked out of the bed. He had school, and before that… he decided he'd go to the police. He couldn't very well claim it was attempted murder, but he could put them away for drugs. He would be dead now. If not for Levi… He couldn't forgive them. More than for himself, he couldn't forgive the cost Levi had to pay for the selfishness of the pricks he called friends. 

Of course, nobody hated Eren more than the boy himself. 

With one last heavy look at the raven's curled up form, Eren closed the doors. 

***

The streets were mostly deserted at this time of the night, save for a yowling cat or a stumbling drunkard. It let Levi have a quiet moment to himself, some time to really _think_ where he stood as an existing, albeit not breathing, being of the universe. 

With his wings gone, he was shut down from the biggest source of power that came from Heaven. The residual sparks inside him did little good to him in daily tasks; he couldn't fly, he couldn't heal a damaged soul, and above all else he just felt _weak_. In his translucent form he was likely close to the strength of a regular soul, no longer that of a divine being. 

It felt empty. _He_ felt empty. Like a big part of him was just ripped apart and he had no way to close the gaping hole. 

He had doubts if he could ever reach contentment in this form, yet in his heart, in the part that was so devastatingly _human_ , he knew he would make the same choice again, over and over.

Eren was worth it. All of it. 

The connection that originally pulled Levi closer to Eren's soul only intensified with their time spent together, and he was sure it'd only be growing further in his predicament. There were restrictions to their connection, things he would probably never be able to reveal to the human, but he was true when he offered his life to Eren. If desired, Levi was prepared to offer everything that was left of his existence. 

As the wind picked up, Levi tilted his head back, gazing at the starry night's sky. While he could no longer feel the pull of the moon, the moonlight no longer enlightening his essence, in the midst of an abandoned street, surrounded by its divine light, Levi felt peaceful. How mundane of him. It made him chuckle quietly, the moment passing too quickly before his whole body tensed up. 

A shudder passed him as he felt the sensation of the suffocating aura. It was so close. He could _feel_ it, over a block away. Potent and dark as the night, the sin of all Heaven - the birth of a vengeful soul. 

Angels couldn't handle much of that energy. In its true form, it was meant to be an energy opposite of everything Heaven believed in. It was nasty and unkind, sometimes tempting, lurking around for a new sacrifice to twist its claws into, to _feed_ off of it. In the early stages it was still a human soul, no matter how nasty, but if it ever got a taste of the Source, it got bad rather quickly. 

Only the most experienced Angels would be sent on missions of such severity; Levi himself had a fair share of those encounters, most of which he'd have liked to forget. But that was _before._ Angels originally had protection from the vile sources. Even if they could not fight it, they could close themselves off for long enough to summon some real help. This so called protection didn't extend to cast away Angels, though. Levi was…vulnerable. He could _feel_ it, the darkness of the soul was potent enough to make even his dulled senses perk up, but he had no way of defending himself.

The smart choice would have probably been to just leave, to run fast and contact Hanji or some other Angel, but years of experience told him there was still a small, even if miniscule, chance for the soul to be saved. If it had even a glimpse of light left inside it, the soul could be sent to the Middle Place for redemption and would no longer have to be damned. 

Levi bet everything on that small sliver of hope as he headed towards the alley. 

The soul had retained an image of a woman, somewhere in her late thirties, though her looks might have suggested otherwise. She looked _tired_ , and _angry_ , so angry that her passing caused glass to shatter all around her; lamp posts, bus stops, the lights of the parked cars. Levi had to duck as one overhang lamp exploded in his proximity.

He could still see it, though. So close to the ravaging soul, he could sense the smallest amount of lightness that still resided within the soul.

It wasn't too late for it. 

"...'nna pay for it…for everything…" the muttering coming from the soul was low, yet harshly spoken, with bitterness embracing the words. 

Levi cleared his throat to make his presence known, a few feet away. He didn't flinch when its neck suddenly made an unnatural u-turn, staring at Levi with a pair of cold, savage eyes. 

"Easy…" Levi spoke with palms spread out in a placating manner. "I know it hurts. I'm here to help."

Its face suddenly twisted into a crazed grin, teeth showing. "Can you help me kill my husband?" 

"No," Levi said with a frown. "That would only damn your soul. You need to fight through this darkness."

"Why _should_ I?" the woman hissed, suddenly appearing way closer to Levi than before. "It was _his_ damn fault that I died. _He_ cheated, and then he didn't even care. He didn't even shed a single tear at his wife's funeral, that piece of shit!" 

Rolling his lower lip inwards, Levi carefully put some distance between the two. It was getting dimmer. The light - he was losing sight of it. "He's not worth it. Do you want to damn your own soul for a shit like him?"

It stopped, making Levi think that perhaps it reconsidered, but no matter how calm it might have appeared outwardly Levi felt it within the last remains of his divine senses - the soul before him had no more light left inside it. 

It was bad. Very bad. Way too dangerous and frankly quite impossible for Levi to handle in this form. He tried to reign in his wariness and to not outwardly flinch as the soul steadily started on him. 

"His death will be worth it," it said and grinned, almost skipping towards Levi in delight. 

"Shit," he cursed and then just turned and ran. 

As he did, the distance between him and the other soul getting thinner and thinner, he felt like he was a prey the soul was playing with. It lost its humanity. And with it, its only goal was to gobble up as much divine power as it could. Levi might not have much, but it'd still boost the soul to a level of a thousand year old Angel. 

He took out his _phone_ and quickly dialed his emergency call, Hanji, who picked up almost immediately. "Runaway vengeful soul at Shinganshina's district. Come, now," he said without preamble and immediately he could hear rustling of wings on the other side of the line. 

"Levi, are you actually _in contact_ with it?" 

He huffed, taking a turn down the alley as he heard the soul whistle a children song, following his back. "If you mean if I'm running like some pathetic human soul, then _yes,_ I am."

"Levi, I'll be right there, but you're really not-" 

"Not _now,_ four-eyes. Unless you want a superpowered dark soul on the list of your already packed schedule."

"Okay, okay. Just… Be careful."

He hung up before he could express his doubt on keeping that promise. 

It was soon answered by a brick wall staring at him like a mockery of his already pathetically human and vulnerable state. He made a wrong turn. It was progressively getting more and more lovely. 

"There you _areee,_ " the soul purred, now what was once a face, turned into a distorted image of scars and horns, everything a human mind associated with ugliness directed to oneself.

Levi took a side-step, situating himself between a wall and a trash bin. They both stopped, only surveying each other, when in a split second Levi launched himself at the soul. Using the lid of the trash bin to disorientate the soul, he kicked its legs underneath it and then sat on the soul's back with limbs twisted backwards. 

It thrashed and yelled profanities at him, but what really got to Levi was the pain it was exuding. The pain of unfairness, of nobody ever fighting for them and just sheer _agony._ He didn't want to feel those things. He didn't have the capacity to empathically shelter that pain inside him. It made him shake from the onslaught of it all. He was losing his grip, losing his sense of reality and he probably would have been consumed by now if not for Hanji appearing at the last minute and wrenching the flailing soul away. 

He vaguely witnessed Hanji put a stamp on the soul, the last seal that would send it to the pits. He heard it fall on its knees and screech, loud and ugly sounds escaping it, before it was consumed by flames, a sight Levi could no longer watch. 

He walked away as fast as he could. 

***

Eren tossed in his bed. It was late, the sun long since passing the horizon, but Levi was yet to be back. He hadn't seen him since morning, and while late night flights weren't unusual for him, now that he couldn't very well _do_ that anymore, it just left Eren worried and antsy.

There was no way he was going to fall asleep until Levi returned. And he was also yet to ask him about tomorrow, whether he could join Eren on his visit to the cemetery. 

It was Eren's mother’s death anniversary. 

With a sigh, Eren resigned himself to a sleepless night. 

It must have been hours with Eren blankly staring at the faraway wall; with eyes bloodshot and limbs as heavy as lead, when he suddenly heard the rattle of the window sill. He jumped up in bed, his eyes wildly seeking out the intruder, and sighed in relief at finding Levi's gray orbs staring at him with a flicker of surprise. 

"Eren…" Levi trailed off, the tone in his voice ringing alarm bells in Eren's head. 

"A-re you hurt, what is it?" As Eren came to stand beside the raven, he took a glimpse of his form and quickly frowned; Levi looked rumpled and if he didn't know better, he'd go as far as saying he looked _tired._ That couldn't be right.

Suddenly he found his hand being encircled with Levi's, the sight of a pair of clasped hands forcing Eren's breath into stillness. True, they have slept together in the same bed, and Eren had felt Levi's wings around him, and once his _arms_ , but Levi wasn't one to casually make a move on Eren, or show any kind of affection for that matter. That was why moments like these were rare and awfully precious. Eren wasn't sure what prompted it, but he was more than content with staying silent if it meant prolonging the contact. 

Levi didn't have body temperature per se. It was a presence of sorts, something that could be mistaken for a matching temperature, but Eren knew better, and he knew that what he felt was _pressure_ and if he let himself extend his thumb, just a little bit, he would be able to glide over the smooth texture of skin. 

He might not know what happened, but he knew Levi was troubled. With his frame slumped against the window sill and back turned to the moon, it felt like a silent statement to what Levi was going through. Levi loved the moonlight, Eren knew he did. He also loved flying and though he never boasted about it, Eren knew he loved being helpful to people. 

As Levi began slowly speaking, Eren's heart couldn't stop aching for the ex-Angel. 

"There was a…soul, a _troubled_ soul," he began, choosing his words carefully. Eren squeezed their hands to get him to continue. "It was hurt and lost and I actually made it in time to get to it before it got completely consumed by darkness...but then I couldn't give it what it needed, _when_ , it needed and… in the end I couldn't save it." 

Eren felt his eyes prickling at the corners while watching the painfully visible regret on Levi's face, for not being _enough_ , for not _making it_. He wished he could take the pain away, but as it was he could do nothing else but hold onto Levi's hand while silently supporting him. He softly asked, _needing_ to know just how much it cost them. 

“Do you really have nothing left? Is it all gone?”

And as the raven regretfully answered, Eren wished he could make himself believe he was actually worth such a sacrifice. 

“...yes. It’s all gone now.” 

***

The pressure against his windpipe, inside his ribcage, it was squeezing him in a vice grip, leaving barely a gap to let the air in. Eren's breath kept stuttering as his mind forced images of his dad, mom - one disappointed and other very much _dead,_ staring at him with cold eyes, then the image morphed into one of bright blue feathers catching on fire and burning, _burning_ until nothing but ashes were left behind. 

Eren couldn't sleep. He barely closed his lids for a couple of hours before he rushed to the bathroom and hadn't left since. 

That was how Levi found him - curled up on the cold bathroom floor with tears streaming down his blotched cheeks. In complete darkness. 

He jumped, feeling lost and confused, when suddenly a presence joined him on the floor, a reassuring palm landing on his shoulder. 

"Eren, hey… It's me."

He relaxed some at learning it was only Levi, but just as quickly tensed up as he realized he was causing trouble, yet again. "I'm sorry," he wheezed out, his breathing still struggling to regain its natural rhythm. "This shouldn't be a-about me. You just lost _everything_ , this isn't the time for me to be pitied, I'm just… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Everything around me seems to just _break._ It's my fault. You, mom - all of it."

"Eren-" 

"And dad… He's never home because he can't stand the sight of me. Ever since mom's death… I know he blames me for it. _I know he does_ ," he repeated in a small, pained voice. 

"It wasn't _you_ that caused her death, Eren."

"It _was_ ," Eren said, voice hard and sure. "She protected me so she died."

Eren could still feel the phantom sensation of her lithe body covering over Eren's frame. The pressure of a dead weight on him, the stench of blood and gasoline around him, his own small fingers shaking onto his mother's frame while they kept slipping onto the drenched fabric - he could still _feel it all_. 

"...en… Eren!" He was abruptly wrenched away from his consuming thoughts by a familiar voice, hands cupping his face as he looked at Eren with worry. Eren whimpered, feeling his throat closing up again. Why did he always have to be the cause of his loved ones suffering? Why couldn't he just-

"No, Eren," Levi suddenly said, as if hearing Eren's thoughts. He observed Eren, gray orbs watching him with intensity that demanded attention. Attention Eren was helpless not to give. That seemed to be enough to placate the raven, as his form lost some of its rigidity and he brushed the dampness on Eren's cheeks away. "It wasn't your fault," he said again, softly, quietly. Eren opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly shushed with a finger on his lips. "It wasn't," he repeated with certainly, then added, "she'd have died either way."

Eren shook his head, confused. "I don't…"

Seeing Eren settle down a bit, Levi leaned back, coming to rest against the cold wall beside Eren. 

"I was appointed to collect your mother's soul that day," he said, and at Eren's gasp, took his hand to entwine their fingers. 

Eren swallowed. "Then…me…?" 

Levi shook his head. "It wasn't me. I suppose another Angel was appointed to collect yours," he said. Eren nodded, indicating for Levi to continue. "I was there at the accident. I watched the SUV crash into your mother's car. It was an instant."

Eren's grip tightened at once. 

“You… _watched_?” Eren asked in a tight voice, eyes blinking rapidly. He had to remind himself to keep breathing as he felt his blood rushing in his veins again. He turned to Levi in search of some remorse but only found steady eyes staring at him. 

“Yes, I watched _,_ " he agreed, eyes not straying from Eren. "Saving you and your mother wasn’t part of my duties. You were both supposed to die that night but something beyond Heaven’s rules happened.”

“What?” Eren gasped out. 

“Free will. Your mother acted on an impulse and saved your life, praying for an _Angel_ to watch over you. Consequently I've been with you since you were ten.”

It was all very bizarre. Levi had been _there._ He was there when Eren's mother had taken her last breath. A part of him wanted to lash out, to make Levi answer to him as to why couldn't he have saved her, but somewhere in his heart he felt calmness seeping in, _peace_ even. Levi had been there when his mother died. That meant she wasn't alone. And if he had to choose one Angel for the impossible job, he knew it'd only ever be one. 

Levi was still silently staring at him, staying still and patient, waiting for Eren to choose what he wanted to do next with the information he now held. And Eren was just… _grateful_ , and so _glad_ to have ended up on the path of this particular Angel, even if the costs for that were high. 

Levi was… unconventionally kind, compassionate and beautiful. Even in the current form without his grace, Levi still looked ethereal in Eren's eyes. 

One hand rose to touch the pads of his fingertips against the skin of Levi's cheekbone. It was smooth, flawless, and so very pale. He heard a gasp come from the plump lips, gray orbs searching his in something akin to uncertainty. Well, Eren wasn't. In that very moment he knew clearly what he wanted. So he leaned in, his parted lips hovering an inch away from the rosy mounds. 

Only he never closed the gap. The unmistakable firm pressure against his chest, a palm, stopped him from advancing further. 

His heart fell to the tips of his feet. 

He felt disappointed and very much humiliated. Frankly all he wanted to do right now was to lock himself away and never have to face Levi again. The raven must have seen the train of thoughts passing through his face because before Eren could stand up and rush the hell out, two strong arms enveloped around his frame and just tugged him against the raven's chest. Eren tensed. He was supposed to be going into hiding. Somewhere far away, without people. He wasn't supposed to be falling into the arms of the very person that caused his humiliation in the first place. But the hands holding him were soothing and Eren's poor bruised heart craved the contact he was so unexpectedly given, so after a moment of tension, he relaxed and wound his arms around Levi's frame. Breathing in.

They prepared for bed silently. Eren still felt a bit uncomfortable, unsure how was he supposed to act around Levi. He confused Eren. Clearly he cared about the boy, but was that care only confined to the bounds of _platonic_ feelings? Were Angels even capable of feeling anything besides the pure form of love? Could Angels _desire?_ Eren didn't know. And he didn't feel like asking these questions out loud, at least not today. 

He settled underneath the covers, facing the edge of the bed where Levi lain on his back. 

Eren's fingers twitched, but he kept them to himself. 

"D-do you sleep now?" he asked, because that seemed like the only safe topic of conversation to have right now. He could see Levi frown slightly, the creases around his temples increasing. It was cute when he thought so hard. Eren felt his lips momentary stretch at the corners. 

"I don't think so, no," the raven finally settled on. 

"Then…" he trailed off. 

"Go to sleep, Eren," he said with face turning towards Eren. "I will watch over you."

He was so unbearably _unfair_. Eren's whole face burned after hearing the Angel say those words, and he quickly turned his back to him. One minute he was refusing a kiss from Eren, another he was making him fall for him deeper. Unfair. Levi was impossibly unfair. 

It wasn't even an hour later when he gasped out in bed, eyes scanning the room in wild search. He could still feel the remains of the nightmare plaguing his mind, suffocating him, but then there were arms on him, a firm chest underneath his cheek and Eren found himself settling down again. 

He felt a steady brush, up and down, against his back. As they would linger on a few spots just outside the outline of the spine, Eren had to wonder if those were the places an Angel's wings were attached to. Wings. He knew Levi still mourned them greatly, and he could faintly understand, their mere presence _fascinated_ Eren. He could still remember the time he caught Levi grooming them. Both of them outstretched wide and on display - they looked _divine._

Eren sighed, knowing Levi had been aware of his wakeful state. "If you still had your wings… Would you have let me groom them?" he asked carefully, yet still felt the body underneath him tense. He didn't ask to be cruel, he only asked because he truly wanted to know. He wanted to know if Levi would have let him. 

"…yeah," the raven said, so softly Eren almost thought he wasn't mean to catch it. But he did, and he got a _yes_ , a yes that meant everything he needed to hear. 

***

"Why's your cat behaving like that?" 

Because of the exam period, Eren had invited, or more like Mikasa had _insisted_ on coming over for a study group (Armin included). She complained about Eren completely having forgotten them, saying how _unhealthy_ it was of him to stay cooped up all by himself. With great reluctance he finally gave in and not ten minutes ago his friends had arrived at the entrance. Of course the first problem arose when Eren let them into his room only to find his cat, _Isabel,_ standing on two legs, limbs outstretched with head tilted back while purring. 

Eren smacked his face with his palm at once. 

He knew his cat, _Isabel_ , and Levi were close but some of their antics were too weird to watch even seeing them from both sides. He could only imagine how it looked like from the perspective of those who only saw a cat behaving in an uncharacteristic way all on its own. 

"Don't mind it," Eren said with a dismissive wave of a hand and ushered the duo to come sit by a cafe table on the floor while he threw a dirty look in Levi's direction, who kept rubbing the cat's ears with an affectionate sort of expression. 

Unfair. It was so _frustratingly_ unfair. Stupid, adorable looking Angels. The man was unhealthy for Eren's weak teenage heart.

As he came to sit by the table, with face flushed and Mikasa's concerned face leaning into him, he curtly told her he was _fine_ and after a moment of hesitation they opened their textbooks. 

With a fist resting on his cheek, Eren sighed heavily, drowning out the story Armin was telling. Cold War again. That brought back memories of when Levi was still behaving like a stuck-up Angel, unwilling to share information with Eren. 

He wondered if Levi had been happier in those times. The times when he still had his powers… 

His nose twitched as he took a whiff of a strong scent. A second later he felt a warm body press up against his arm, then a palm land on his forehead. 

"Mikasa, what're you-" 

"I think you might be sick, Eren."

Eren groaned in exasperation. "I'm not sick, Mikasa. I just got lost in thought, okay?" 

She still didn't seem to believe him but leaned back anyway, warmth leaving his body. He almost forgot the feeling. It felt like a really long time since he last was this close to another human being. As he spent most of his days with Levi, who had neither temperature, nor body odor, to be ensloughted with these seemingly forgotten sensations felt weird to him. He wouldn't go as far as saying he missed them, but it did feel…nostalgic.

His eyes momentary flickered to the Angel, and caught a glimpse of an odd look pass his features. He seemed to still, fingers stopping moving against Isabel's soft fur despite the cat trying to scratch it out of him. He just kept _looking_ at Eren; silently, intensely. 

Whatever he meant to say, Eren couldn't understand. He wanted to ask, but then he got pulled back into the conversation by Armin. 

"How did it go…at the police station?" 

"Ah." The room grew tense as the duo waited for Eren to speak up. "They’re going to open an investigation, but apart from that, I'm just trying not to bump at them at school."

"They haven't been suspended?!" He squirmed at Mikasa's shriek, frowning. He was the first to want justice to be served for those two but the system was slow, and he had an inkling that even if they found anything… _minors doing drugs_. At best they would be sent to a juvenile detention center for a short while. It almost made him question his choice in pursuing the matter in the first place. 

At least he knew the divine existed. So if not in this life, he knew they would be judged afterwards. That made him breathe a bit easier. Not like he could relay that to his friends, though. 

"That's bullshit," Mikasa spoke through gritted teeth, fist slamming against the table. "If I ever get my hands on them-" 

"You'll do nothing, Mikasa," Eren said firmly. "It's not your place to judge."

"But they _hurt_ you."

"Almost."

"Still-" the girl protested, again, making Eren grasp her hand to stop her rant. 

"Promise me you won't go after them, Mikasa. They will be judged, I promise. Just not by _you._ "

When she finally nodded, Eren settled back, eyes scanning the room only to come up empty. Levi was nowhere to be found. He excused himself, saying he'd go bring some snacks from the kitchen as he wandered down the halls. 

He found Levi sitting by the window sill in the living room, with Isabel quietly purring in his lap. His shoulders tensed as Eren came near, but didn't protest as he sat down with one leg crossed, opposite Levi. 

"Why did you go?" he inquired while his fingers stretched out to disappear into the cat's fur. Unexpectedly he got a hiss and scratch in return, making him yelp and stagger back. 

"Isabel!" Levi chided the cat, who turned her head as if saying _you got what you deserved_. Eren felt confused. Sure, his relationship with the cat, ever since he learned of her more _human_ heritage, had left a bit of a strain but he never thought he was hated. Now, though, he wasn't so sure anymore. 

He must have looked absolutely miserable since the next moment Levi briskly stood up, mindless of Isabel's hissing at such treatment, and came to look over Eren's hand. 

"I'm sorry," he said, while placing his palm against the itching skin. A brief sensation of cooling followed, not exactly healing him but enough to numb the irritation. 

"Why are _you_ sorry?" Eren asked, perplexed. 

"Because she was acting based on my emotional turmoil."

"Huh?" Now Eren was even more confused. 

As the sensation of coolness left him, Levi took a step back, palm going to brush against the back of his own neck. Eren just kept silent with a frown on his face, waiting.

"With your friends over I was just feeling…" he abruptly trailed off, frustrating Eren further. 

"Feeling _what?_ " 

Grey orbs flickered to him and he could see the vulnerability in them, the slight anger, and suddenly Eren's mouth was stretching into a wide, satisfied smile. 

"What, you could just tell me if you were jealous, Levi."

"I wasn't _jealous,_ Eren," the man said indignantly, though his slightly pinkish cheeks were screaming otherwise. Huh. He didn't know Levi could blush. He wondered how far the blush went. He couldn't see much over the cravat and the shirt that were unfairly covering Levi's skin at all times of day, but he could pick up his ears reddening, so he w _ondered._

Thoughts like that quickly made his own throat dry and cheeks burning. 

"Why are _you_ red now?" Levi asked mockingly and Eren could do nothing else but squeak and turn back to run back to his room, the following sound of soft laughter warming him from the inside.

*** 

"I don't like it."

Eren sighed as he heard the phrase being spoken for the nth time that day. There were rumors floating around in school about a ghost appearing by the lake in the late afternoon, scaring the shit out of his schoolmates. Now, Eren wasn't sure how legit the information was but he thought it was his duty to clarify or negate it. 

“I can’t do anything to help it right now, Eren," Levi had said with such sadness in his voice that at one point Eren really thought about forgetting about the whole thing, if only to stop Levi's pain. It wasn't like he was intentionally trying to be insensitive. But if the stories were true about unattended souls going bad fast then it was just a matter of time before someone from his school got hurt and he couldn't take chances with that. So he tried to reason with Levi, even when his heart hurt to ask it. 

“Yeah, but we can still talk to it. Maybe we can even help it to move on. Not like anybody else seems to care."

He knew it when he saw the expression in Levi shift and him slowly giving in. The main reason why the last soul Levi had encountered gone bad was because of neglect. If someone just came earlier to collect it, to _guide_ it, then perhaps today it wouldn't have to be suffering in the pits of hell. 

Eren wanted to give Levi that. A chance to change things for the better, so when he saw him reluctantly agree to the plan, Eren took his hand in his and smiled. 

He would protect Levi. Both his soul and heart. 

The view from up close was nothing like they had expected. Instead of being a dark, gloomy place, the lake was calm and peaceful looking. And except for a few rays of sunshine splitting up on a hard surface of a rock, there seemed to be no sign of any mystical beings lurking around. 

The place was, indeed, abandoned though; with overgrown grass everywhere Eren didn't notice a wet rock underneath and slipped, falling down into the water with a loud splash. He quickly resurfaced, sputtering and was surprised to see Levi looking equally as drenched with a dark look on his face. Eren just stared at him incredulously until he was pointed in the direction of his fingers grasping onto Levi's shirt tightly. 

He smiled sheepishly at the man. When that didn't work, his palm dove half way into the water and twisted, splashing water straight into Levi's face. 

The first second after that he thought he was going to be murdered by the sheer ominous aura that was coming in waves from Levi, but since Eren never did anything in a half-assed way, his other palm soon joined and he was quickly splashing Levi with both hands. 

"Eren- what in the names of Hell- you little shit- stop it, damn it!" 

He laughed at Levi's murderous look, staring at him with one hand gripping Eren's wrist tightly. He was totally drenched; even his cravat hung uselessly at the raven's neck, deformed. Eren's fingers twitched. He found himself reaching out to fix the white material, tugging at it with lip bitten as it didn't seem to be working the way he wanted it to. One hand was hard to work with. 

As he tugged against Levi's hold, he felt fingers go slack and soon he had both hands working on the precious material. He felt Levi's tension, and briefly wondered whether it had to do with Eren ruining his fashion sense or if it was Eren's close proximity. He tried to test it. Fingers going around the back of the neck, Eren unfastened the scarf and slowly slid it down Levi's neck. He still wore a high neckline, but an extra fraction of skin got uncovered and Eren reached out for it; carefully. 

It felt cold; the skin under his fingertips gave off a sensation of coldness, and it perplexed Eren. "You're cold," he stated in wonder, while his fingers brushed over the skin alongside the pale neck. He both saw _and_ felt a shiver going down the smaller body. 

"Yeah, um," Levi swallowed, seemingly as lost for words as Eren himself. Two pairs of eyes connected, making Eren lose himself in the depth of them. 

"It seems the longer I stay in this form, the closer to human sensations I'm getting," he whispered quietly, eyes watching Eren carefully as he purposefully angled himself closer to Levi. 

"Then… can you feel _this_?" he asked, fingers moving along the side of his face before coming to cup Levi's burning cheek. 

“Eren-” He could feel air on his lips, a warning in Levi's voice and a firm grip of fingers against his clothed arm. He stopped, just a fraction away. 

"No?" he asked cheekily with eyes dancing in mirth. He saw Levi swallow and leaned in, ready to close the gap, when he saw something move in his peripheral vision. Opening his eyes wider he gasped, jumping back from Levi abruptly.

He heard Levi curse, though whether from being interrupted or for allowing Eren to get so far, he wasn't sure.

He could see it. The _ghost._ Only it wasn't a ghost. With massive set of pearly white wings the man, the Angel, stood firmly at the shore of the lake. 

If he wasn't as busy staring at the Angel, (because wow, it was one thing to know you somehow accidently got to see one Angel, but to be presented with the possibility of having an actual _ability_ to see Angels, well, that was something _else_ entirely), he might have noticed how tense Levi got or read more into him grabbing onto Eren's retreating form. 

He was just so _curious_.

Eren greeted the Angel with a big smile, flushing at seeing the divine being regarding him with amusement at his poor attempt of bowing. "Wow, I just... Don't know what to say. I-is this gonna become like a thing, me seeing Angels left and right?" A nervous chuckle escaped him, before the Angel took a step towards Eren. 

He could feel Levi approaching, but not fast enough before scalding words left the Angel’s lips. "You don’t have a special ability to see Angels, Eren Jaeger. You just can see the Angel responsible for collecting your soul. Levi was supposed to be the one to do it - he still could, if he wanted his powers back-”

Suddenly a small body was colliding into the bigger, seemingly stronger, Angel with a loud roar. He was effortlessly stopped by one big hand wrenching Levi's fingers away from the fabric where he got the material twisted in his grip. The Angel seemed to regard Levi with a disappointed frown. “Once, you were as powerful as a garrison. You might have even won against me. But in this state you’re no more than a mere mortal," he said and leaned into the raven's glaring face. "You can’t do anything against an Angel, Levi.” 

“How pathetic.”

Just as quickly as he came, the Angel, _Erwin,_ left, wings extending wide and far before he took off into the air. 

He felt shocked. More than feeling anger or despair at being on the verge of dying, again, he just wanted answers. 

"I thought I _saved_ you, that my sacrifice took care of it," Levi began, his voice shaking, something he appeared to want to desperately to mask. Eren almost went to him. _Almost._ "But I… didn't. I just prolonged the inevitable. My orders have never changed."

He wondered if what he felt was sadness. Perhaps. He would have to leave everyone behind after all. But seeing an Angel, struggling so badly in keeping a single human soul alive, Eren just felt the unbearing need to set him _free_.

There was something Erwin, _the Angel_ , had said that made him wonder. 

"Would collecting my soul bring back your powers?" 

“I…don’t know.”

He didn't know Angels could lie. 

***

They didn't sleep that night. Or the several nights that followed. On the fourth morning Eren got up first and asked Levi to go out with him. 

"Go on a date with me, Levi," he said cheerily, surprising Levi enough to make him sit up in the bed. "I promise I won't try to kiss you again," he added as an afterthought, catching Levi's flinch. He swallowed down the heavy rise of feelings and just took Levi's hand. 

He wanted to see it all.

Before his inevitable demise he wanted to experience what he never had. _A day with the one he loved_. Going by the cliche of the book, he first dragged Levi to an Amusement Park. It was a quiet day, so not many people gathered and he could avoid awkward questions as he laughed at what looked like his own reflection. The haunted house didn't scare him the least, but as they went to the highest roller coaster he was gripping Levi's hand hard. The man only smiled at him reassuringly and the one moment where Eren managed to open his eyes to catch a glimpse of him - he looked at peace with the height. It eased the weight in Eren's gut a little. At least he knew they would be setting things right.

The last stop was the ocean. 

It was cold from where Eren had his feet dipped in, looking at the horizon with a faraway look. 

"You know, when I lost my mother, I used to come here a lot," he said, and though Levi said nothing, he knew Levi was probably there with him at those times, too, silently watching a child gazing at the wide expanse of the horizon. "I used to think once you cross the ocean you can reach paradise, a place where all your dreams can be achieved. A place without pain and loss," he trailed off as a memory hit him hard, a night of harsh winds and angry waves. The first and only night his father had ever been worried for him. 

"I wonder if Heaven is going to be like that," he asked and slowly turned over his shoulder, eyes connecting with Levi's troubled ones. "Is it, Levi?" 

The Angel didn't answer and just averted his eyes, coming to sit at the shore. Eren sighed, feeling the overflow of emotions. 

When he finally sat down by Levi, their fingers joined, but instead of staying like that he quickly felt himself being propelled forwards, kneeling in between Levi's open legs as the raven hugged him tight. He clutched back just as fiercely, Levi's name falling from his mouth as he curled himself around him. 

"You’re more powerful than you realize," Levi whispered, making Eren lean back to stare at Levi's shining eyes. "You made an Angel fall for you.” 

Eren swallowed, eyes darting downwards before Levi caught his chin. “Not only like that. You made me fall _for_ you, Eren. I love you. I’m just sorry my sacrifice wasn’t enough.” 

Eren felt his eyes prickle with tears as his heart beat fiercely inside his chest. He closed his eyes as he felt fingers caressing his cheek and softly whispered, “I love you,” before opening his eyes at Levi, looking at Eren with eyes full of sadness but also so much affection and _love._

Eren felt his breath stutter as he was led to lean back and this time it was Levi who rose up and leaned in towards Eren. 

Their lips met, the kiss being awfully tender, bodies trembling as they clung to one another with bruising strength. Levi felt the shift, the calling, the _pulling_ of the universe; how the wind around them changed, different smells reaching his nose. His fingers kept trembling, unwilling to let go as he felt the prickling sensation in his back, the nudging, _stretching_ , until it was impossible to ignore. With a gasp their lips parted, two feathered limbs unfurling out of his back in a wide motion. 

When his eyes opened to look at Eren, the emerald orbs were blank. They blinked once, as if clearing the fog and then turned to look around to observe. 

They never met Levi's. 

Levi kept watching him, though; he watched him take a breath, wince at the blaring horn of the car coming to a stop several feet away, he watched how a dark haired girl, _Mikasa_ , rushed to Eren's side, hugging him tightly and berating him for not being careful enough.

"Eren… why're you crying?" Confusion flickered on Eren's face before he reached out towards his cheek, fingers touching the dampness. Sure enough, it seemed like he had been crying, he just didn't know _why._

"Huh? I…don't know."

Levi tried to mimic the movement. With fingers outstretched towards the still-sitting Eren, Levi put his finger on the same dampness, trying to brush it away. At the moment of contact, Eren's skin illuminated, giving off light and as Levi pushed forward, _past the light,_ his fingers went through, never meeting skin. 

He watched Eren stand up, pat himself down and be slowly led away, away from the incident, while Levi kept sitting right there on the crossroad, waiting. 

Erwin landed almost immediately. His grace told him how _unhappy_ he truly was with Levi's decision, though he remained civil. "That was foolish of you," he reprimanded. "Though his memories might be erased and life spared by resetting time, your punishment for using the Angel powers without approval from above would be excruciating." Levi kept silent, just staring on after Eren's retreating back, forcing a sigh out of Erwin. 

“I hope he’s worth it.” He said and then Levi felt air being punched out of his gut, shackles landing hard on his wings, assimilating into what seemed each one of his feathers and _stretching,_ extending to his nerve endings _._ He screamed from the agony of moving his own limbs, the pain going and expanding until the point where he was left feeling numb and shivering while laying on the harsh pavement.

He could barely see the outline of Erwin, kneeling by his twitching form, and frowning as he retold Levi's punishment. "Levi. You're going to be demoted and Heaven’s imprisoned for the next two _hundred years…_ " his voice carried on, but Levi heard no more, with eyes seeing nothing but the disappearing back of the boy. 

An Angel and a Human. Two beings who should have never met and fallen in love. Yet they did. It was such a beautiful feeling, exhilarating at its highest, and so heartbreaking at its worst. For a second Levi was allowed a glimpse of what it was like feeling emotions as fully and freely as humans do. It was an illusion, a dream no Angel should have the privilege of having. Yet if there was life after this one for an Angel, he wished he would be reborn as a Human, and fall in love with Eren all over again. 

_It’d be an ordinary day, a break time with people going for coffee, when they would accidentally bump into each other, as if it was arranged by fate._

_Ah, he wished he had been born a human..._

**_The end._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Just another reminder for you to go take a look at [juarhala's art](https://oh-juarhala.tumblr.com/post/185981232971/hey-guys-here-is-my-entry-for-the-ererievents) on tumblr made for this fic, it's magnificent.  
> Thank you, once again, for everyone that have been on this journey. May we meet again.


End file.
